246
ALBANIA
the deficiency of communications, and the damage caused by frequent inundations, Albania furnishes almost the entire corn supply of the Dalmatian coast and islands. Maize is the favourite grain for home consumption, but considerable quantities of this cereal, as well as barley, rye, and oats, are exported. The total export of cereals in 1898 was valued at 1,770,000 francs. Sheep and goats form almost the only wealth of the mountaineers of Northern Albania; large cattle are found only on the plains. The slopes of Pindos afford excellent pasture for the flocks of the Ylakh shepherds. The export of raw hides and wool is considerable ; the former was estimated in 1898 at 2,260,000 francs, the latter at 600,000 francs. The lakes and rivers of Albania abound in fish. The scoranze, a kind of sardine, is taken in great quantities in Lake Scutari; it is salted and smoked for home consumption and exportation. Sea fishing is almost wholly neglected. There are salines at Avlona and other places on the coast. The exports in 1898 were estimated at 12,000,000 francs, the imports at 34,000,000 francs, the former comprising agricultural produce, live stock, hides, wool, cheese, andimerCe epo,s> poultry, olive oil, valonia, sumach leaves, industries, timber, skins of wild animals, silk, tobacco, and salted fish, the latter manufactured articles, cloth, hardware, furniture, firearms, gunpowder, sugar, coffee, etc. The monopoly of Albanian commerce formerly possessed by Venice has descended to Austria-Hungary; the trade with other countries, except Italy, is inconsiderable. Owing to the poverty of the people, cheap Austrian goods find a readier sale than the more expensive and solid British manufactures. The maritime traffic is largely conducted by the steamers of the subsidized Austrian-Lloyd company, Trieste being the principal commercial centre; the coasting trade is carried on by small Greek and Turkish sailing vessels. The trade of the northern and western districts has to some extent been diverted to Salonika since the opening of the railways from that town to Mitrovitza and Monastir. The development of commerce is retarded by lack of communications; the country possesses no railways and few roads. Several railway lines have been projected, but there is no great probability of their construction under existing political conditions. The Via Egnatia, the great Roman highway to the east, is still used; it runs from Durazzo (Dyrrhachium) to Elbassan and Ochrida. lannina is connected by carriage-roads with Monastir, Agii Saranta, and Preveza. As a rule, however, bridle-paths supply the only means of communication. The native industries are inconsiderable, and many of them are in a languishing condition. The manufacture of highly ornate firearms, yataghans, and other weapons at Scutari, Gyakovo, and Prizren has declined, owing to the importation of modern rifles and revolvers. Gold and silk embroidery, filigree work, morocco, and richly-braided jackets are produced for home use and for sale in Bosnia, Macedonia, and Montenegro. The population of Albania may be estimated at between 1,600,000 and 1,500,000, of whom 1,200,000 or 1,100,000 are Albanians. Of the other races the Slavs 1a tion " (Serbs and Bulgars) are the most numerous, possibly numbering 250,000. There is a considerable Greek-speaking population in Epiros (including many Mahommedan Albanians), which must, however, be distinguished from the genuine Greeks of lannina, Preveza, and the extreme south; the latter may be estimated at 100,000. The Vlakhs, mainly in the Pindos district, possibly number 70,000. The population of the vilayet of Scutari is given as 322,000, or 28 per square kilometre ; that of the vilayet of lannina as 648,000, or 33 per square kilometre. The principal towns are Scutari (Albanian
Shkoder, with the definite article Shkoder-a), the capital of the vilayet of that name, pop. 37,000 ; Prizren, 30,000 ; lannina (often incorrectly written loannina), capital of the southern vilayet, 25,000; Gyakovo, 25,000; Dibra, 20,000 ; Ipek (Slav.PefcA), 15,000; Berat, 15,000; Ochrida, 15,000; Tirana, 12,000; Argyrokastro, 11,000; Kortcha (Slav. Goritza), 10,000 ; Elbassan, (perhaps anc. Albanopolis), 8000 ; Metzovo, 7500; Preveza, 6500; and Kro'ia, the ancient fortress of Skanderbeg, 5000. The Albanians are apparently the most ancient race in SouthEastern Europe. History and legend afford no record of their arrival in the Balkan peninsula. They are probably the descendants of the earliest Aryan immigrants, who were represented in historical times by the kindred Illyrians, Macedonians, and Epirots ; the Macedonians and Epirots are believed by Hahn to have formed the core of the pre-hellenic Tyrrheno-Pelasgian population which inhabited the southern portion of the peninsula and extended its limits to Thrace and Italy. The Illyrians were also “Pelasgian,” but in a wider sense. Of these cognate races, which are described by the Greek writers as barbarous or non-hellenic, the Illyrians and Epirots, he thinks, were respectively the progenitors of the Ghegs, or northern, and the Tasks, or southern, Albanians. The Via Egnatia, which Strabo (vii. fragment 3) describes as forming the boundary between the Illyrians and Epirots, practically corresponds with the course of the Shkumb, which now' separates the Ghegs and the Tosks. The same geographer (v. 2, 221) states that the Epirots w'ere also called Pelasgians ; the Pelasgian Zeus was worshipped at Dodona (Homer, II. xvi. 234) and the neighbourhood of the sanctuary was called Pelasgia (Herodotus, ii. 56). The name Task is possibly identical with Tuscas, Etruscus, while the form Tyrrhenus perhaps survives in Tirana. The large number of Slavonic local names in Albania, even in districts where no trace of a Slavonic population exists, bears witness to an extensive Servian or Bulgarian immigration in the early middle ages, but the original inhabitants appear to have gradually ousted the invaders. The determination with which this remarkable race has maintained its mountain stronghold through a long series of ages has hitherto met with scant appreciation in the outside world. While the heroism of the Montenegrins has been lauded by writers of all countries, the Albanians—if w’e except Byron’s eulogy of the Suliots—still carent vate sacra. Not less noticeable is the tenacity with which isolated fragments of the nation have preserved their peculiar characteristics, language, customs, and traditions. The Albanians in Greece and Italy, though separated for six centuries from the parent stock, have not yet been absorbed by the surrounding populations. The Albanians, both Ghegs and Tosks, call themselves Shkyipetar, and their land Shkyipenia or dhkyiperia, the former being the Gheg, the latter the Tosk form of the word. Shkyipetar has been variously interpreted. According to Hahn it is a participial from shkyipoy “ I understand,” signifying “ he who knows ” the native language; others interpret it as “ the rock-dweller,” from shk&p, shkip, “rock.” The designations Arber (Greek Ap(3avLTr]'sf Turkish Arnaout) denoting the people, and Arbenia or Arberia the land, are also, though less frequently, used by the Albanians. The Tosk form Arberia strictly applies only to the mountain district near Avlona. The region inhabited by a more or less homogeneous Albanian population may be roughly marked out by a line drawn from the Montenegrin frontier at Berane to Leskovatz in Servia, thence to Vrania, Uskub, Prilep, Monastir, Fiorina, Kastoria, lannina, and Parga. These limits, however, are far from including all the members of a widely-scattered race. The Albanians in Greece, whose settlements extend over Attika, Boeotia, the district of Corinth, and the Argolid peninsula, as well as Southern Euboea and the islands of Hydra, Spetzse, Poros, and Salamis, descend from Tosk immigrants in the 14th century. They played a brilliant part in the war of independence, and to-day supply the Greek army with its best soldiers. They were estimated by Leake at 200,000. A large number still speak the Albanian language; many of the older men, and a considerable proportion of the women, even in the neighbourhood of Athens, are ignorant of Greek. The Albanian settlements in Southern Italy and Sicily were founded in
